Well, I don't know if this makes me you feel any better, but that coverage would be like heaven for my family. We pay almost exactly $1400/month.

I haven't read the other replies, but in June we had a craptastic change. Our monthly premium went up to $1,400. Oh, and our co-pay went up to $75. Co-pays don't count toward the deductible. I have a serious chronic illness, so it is literally impossible for us to shop for other health insurance options. Plus we sometimes have as many as three doctor visits a week. A $75 co-pay on top of $1400/month is really killing us. It makes me so angry. We can't save for kids' college, can't take vacations, can't hire a babysitter, are driving cars that are over ten years old ... just because our routine health care is so expensive. And there's nothing we can do about it.

I'm writing a book that has a sub-plot of the main character (a wife and mother of two young kids) tries to embark on new, slightly "adventurous" ways to save money. I'm looking for situations where: 1) What she tries is kinda wacky, humorous, and/or over the top, and maybe makes her family go, "Whaaa ...?" I was even thinking of having her go dumpster diving, but decided that was too gross. 2) Where the idea "backfires." Things go wrong, and the whole attempt either does nothing, or worse, ends up costing her money for some reason. Any ideas? Anything like that happen to you or someone you know? Or are you more creative than I am and just have some ideas? Thanks so much!

Oh, this is an interesting point. Yes, opening night of the show is tonight and the kids have been at rehearsal every night til roughly 10:30 every night. The last two mornings they all slept in til ten! That must be rough on public schooled kids in the same show, who have to get up at around 7:00 every morning despite the late rehearsals.

Yes, this is a bit of a brag, but I also just wanted to start a discussion. My children, ages 11, 9, and 6, have been involved in some musical theatre over the last several months, and I am struck by how many compliments I have received on their behavior. First, a theatre owner and director told me they were the best behaved kids he'd ever worked with. At the time, I thought, "Oh, that's very nice of him to say, but I'm sure he's just using hyperbole. I'm sure there are many other well-behaved kids." But today at the grocery store, the cashier (who is the grandparent of the current show's director, a different person) said, "My grandson told me, "Those three 'Smith' children are the well-mannered I have ever worked with!" And the musical director (a third person) told me this week that her job would be a lot easier if the whole cast was like my kids. So I'm starting to think there is something to that. While I'm absolutely delighted to receive comments like that, I'm also slightly surprised. We strive to be good parents, but I think good parents are everywhere, and I don't know that we do anything amazing or unusual. I certainly don't threaten them within an inch of their lives to behave at the theater, or anything like that. I honestly don't know what (if anything) we've done to cause our children to be unusually well-behaved. Or maybe we haven't done anything, but it's just their personality or something. Or ... are other kids surprisingly not so well-behaved?? Is it homeschooling?? That seems like too easy an answer, to say they're well-behaved because they're homeschooled ... surely there are very well-behaved school children ... So anyway, here's my question: If you have kids that you think are very well-behaved, or if you've been told they are (or for that matter, if you know someone who's kids are very well-behaved, or both), what do you attribute that to? Is it just dumb luck? Is it family dinners together? Church attendance? Homeschooling? (and if so, why?) Are you unusually strict and have a lot of rules? Also, what are the specific differences in behavior that you're seen? I guess what I'm asking is, what are "normal" kids doing that your "very well-behaved kids" would never do? Because I can't help but wonder ... if my kids are "better behaved than everyone else," well, what are those other kids like?? Please discuss ... :)

When you guys say "combine pureology shampoo and moroccan oil ... do you mean mix the oil into the shampoo? Mix it into the conditioner? Both? And which oil? I see several products on website. Also, what do you use as a styling/gel product? Or is that when you put in the oil? Thanks! I want to make sure I do it right.

That's a good point. I remember thinking the prettiest my hair ever looked was when we vacationed in Yellowstone. Kind of sad to think I would be a prettier person if we only lived in another part of the country! :crying:

I feel like I've been round and round trying to find a product for my hair (which, unfortunately, is no longer thick, and not even as curly as it used to be, but definitely has a dry/kinky/frizzy/scraggly quality to it. Right now I'm using the "Be Curly" line from Aveda, but I'm not sure it's worth the expense. I remember years ago using FrizzEase, but I stopped because I read the silicone was bad for your hair. Any styling products that you swear by, especially for making your hair more smooth and making a real curl, and not just fuzz???

If you have a daughter who likes American Girl dolls, they might enjoy seeing this. My eleven year old daughter shot this music video to "Miss Invisible" using her dolls. Maybe it's just because I'm her mother, but I was truly shocked at how good it was, and I wanted to share it, especially with other tween girls who might enjoy it. (She has an American Girl doll channel people can subscribe to.) My husband and I thought it was funny when she told she was "working on a music video about school bullying," since she's never been to school. :001_smile:

I imagine my nine year old would enjoy learning some programming basics. What are some good tools for learning this? Has anyone ever used Scratch?

Are there any samples on that site? Am I just missing them?

I have been doing The Six O'Clock Scramble for about two years now and my subscription is almost up for renewal. I have really enjoyed it, and the food is great, but ironically (because they claim to save you money), I don't know if I can afford it any more. I don't mean the subscription itself, but the actual food! Ingredients like basmati rice, sugar snap peas, brie cheese, fish once a week ... who can afford that?? Sometimes we take a week off The Scramble and make things like hot dogs and beans, or pancakes and eggs for dinner, just because we don't have the money to make those meals! Anyway, I heard Dave Ramsey recommends EZMeals, and I was wondering if it was cheaper. Are the meals any good? Mostly I was curious if people had tried different meal planning sites, and how they compare, and which ones seem to be the most popular.

I wondered if someone would think this. I know it's silly, but I wanted to say, just for the record, that my children's behavior was not an issue in any way. As far as the ages, they are all elementary school age. I agree about the boundaries; however, like I said earlier, I wish she would have simply stated what she could or could not do; ie, "I would be able to watch your kids twice" or, "No, child care is not something I could help you with" instead of telling me after the fact what she charges. It felt very awkward.

The HOPE is rumored to be going away soon, so it seems conservative to assume it either will be significantly different in seven years, or will gone entire.

I'm not sure if he got it from Mint.com or another site, but it was something that estimated projected costs. The idea was that, no, it is not $80,000+ this minute, but it will be in seven years at the current rate of increase -- and, of course, even more for our younger kids. Yes, I worked and had scholarships when I was in college, but the "sticker price" was no more than $35,000 total, and that included room and board. It sounds like it's a whole different ball games these days, and I don't see how that can cut it anymore. I know people have different thoughts about loans, but I'm not sure saddling a 21 year old with $50,000+ in loans is what we consider a viable option.

Thanks for all the replies. Yes, I would have much preferred the neighbor to say, "No, sorry, I'm not able to do that," or, "Yes, I could do it about once every other month" then to agree to help and then give me a price. I actually always do take the kids to the lab with me. It's a drag, but very do-able. It's the exams that are a problem -- or rather, adding the exams on top of all the lab visits. I would not feel comfortable leaving an 11 year old home alone for three hours almost every week. In a couple years, sure. My kids don't have electronic devices. My church doesn't have anything that could help. I'd be happy to do a swap with someone, but don't know who or what. Maybe something will come to me ...? The idea of leaving them all in the waiting room is interesting. The big challenge would be my six year old boy. I cannot picture him just sitting alone that long. The only thing I can think is maybe ask the older kids to read to him in the waiting room ...? It is just such a drag to have a chronic illness, and have so much of my time and money to go to doctors, and to know it will never end or improve ... and now to have my mother taken from me, and now the whole situation is different .... it's just a big UGH, to put it mildly.

My husband just started using Mint.com to get our finances in order, and did some of savings projection to figure out how much to save for our kids to go to college. The numbers told him that, for an in-state public college, it would cost our oldest child over $80,000 for college, our middle child $90,000, and our youngest over $100,000. (They are 11, 9, and 6.) Umm .... so it would cost close to $270,000 for our children to attend the cheapest college possible???? He wrote an e-mail to his parents (and CC'ed to me) titled, "Not possible for our children to attend college" to see if they had any advice. They basically said, "Well, they'll probably get scholarships, and they can get a job. We didn't think we could do it, but we managed to save what you needed. Lots of people attend college without their parents' money." They also pointed out that truck drivers make good money without college. (They also said we should quit homeschooling and I should work FT, but we won't go there ...) Uh .... we're talking over $250,000. It would be absolutely impossible for us to save even half that -- even a quarter of that -- in a few years. Maybe we could save, like $20,000 total, if we're lucky. What job could an 18 year old get that would pay $70,000???? Or is the only solution to have them go $70,000 in debt when they're 22???? My husband, in particular, in very depressed and panicked about this. He feels that our children have no future. Could someone help me out here? Is it really this bleak? Are the only options for the non-super-wealthy to get huge loans or skip college and become a truck driver??

Huh .... I guess my response to this is, where are your kids during your exam?? I can't imagine leaving them all unsupervised in the waiting room for an hour, nor would I think the staff would appreciate that. There is no way three people (and doubtfully even one) would fit anywhere in my dental exam room, for sure. And in my other doc offices, there is neither space nor chairs for multiple people to be in the room with me. They would all have to stand against the wall or something in a cramped area, which seems like a recipe for disaster to me. How does it work for you guys?

I can't help you ... I couldn't even finish reading your post because I am so envious. Our insurance is $1400/month, and a fairly high deductible. Good luck with whatever you choose!

A little background: I have three kids, and was diagnosed with a serious chronic illness several years ago, right after my youngest was born. Between going to specialists and regular lab visits, plus all the normal things everybody does, like dental exams and pap smears, it is pretty common for me to go the doctor or lab 3-4 times a month. In the past, my mother was willing and able to watch the kids for most of my appointments. But a few months ago she was diagnosed with terminal cancer, so those days are gone. Two different neighbors had asked me, independently of each other, if they could do anything to help, when they heard about my mother. I thought and said, "You know, what I need more than anything is someone to watch my kids when I go to the doctor." Each of them said to let me know dates and times and they would try to help out. One of them watched the kids last week, it seemed to go really well, and yesterday I asked if it was possible for her to watch them again next week at such-and-such day and time. She wrote back to tell me that she would need to charge me $10/hour if I wanted her to continue watching the kids. Well, my co-pay is $75 per doc visit. I can barely afford to GO to the doctor, let alone pay someone $30 almost every week just to watch my kids so I can go. I still have the other neighbor, but now I'm almost afraid if she'll say the same thing ... especially if she's the only person I can ask every time. The few homeschooling families I know are all a twenty+ minute drive away in the opposite direction of my doctors. I don't know anybody else I could "trade babysitting" with. Three kids is a bit much to have in the exam room with me; depending on the office and the situation, it is sometimes borderline impossible. There must be many people in a similar situation. What does everyone else do??

Hi there, I have a music education degree, used to run a small piano studio, taught general music in the public schools, and now work as a free-lance pianist. I currently teach my two oldest children. I don't think there's is anything wrong with waiting another year with one or both children. I myself did not start taking lessons til I was almost eleven. Maybe starting a little earlier would have helped ... but what did hurt me much more than "starting late" was having poor teaching for a few years. So I would recommend beginning with one child and seeing how that goes first. There is no rush. I don't even recommend private music for any child until they are at least seven. I personally like the Faber and Faber Piano Adventures. Pianimals.com is different, but excellent. It might be a great choice, since the authors say you can do the series without a teacher (then move into a different series and get a teacher). Alfred is very very popular and I think it is a poor method with boring songs that can easily lead to kids who have no clue how to read notes. I have been enjoying a relatively new series with my oldest called Celebrate Piano. I would highly recommend that if you take on the role of "piano teacher" (as opposed to "a mom that shows him a few things"), you spend some time doing some research. You don't need a music degree by any means ... but you do need to know something about what you're doing. Get involved in a couple piano teacher forums. Look at different method series and decide how they're different and which approach you prefer. Decide what is important to you: Theory? Ensemble playing? Reading a chord chart? Playing by ear? Memorizing? This guy is great. Good luck and please let me know if you need anything!

My nine year old is challenging to get curriculum for. She loves what she loves, but balks at what she doesn't love. I realized today that she seemed to love ... a story. For example, she loves Life of Fred. She mostly loves MCT, especially the story parts. She loved loved loved The Sentence Family. Grammarland. Story of the World. Now that I have finally figured this out ... what other curriculum is out there, in any and all subjects, that tells a story of some sort?

I just received Life of Fred Apples, Butterflies, and Cats, and am excited to start it tomorrow with my fourth grader. I imagine we'll go through these three books pretty quickly. I seem to remember reading there was a problem with Dogs. That it was upsetting or something? Could someone tell me a little about that, by PM if it's more appropriate? I need to figure out if I should order Dogs, or just stop the series after Cat. Thanks!

You're supposed to begin at the beginning, no? I thought that was what they and others suggested, since it's a story. I imagine that if we like it, we'll go through it quickly. I had tried her in Life of Fred Fractions, and she cried and said it was too hard. So I figured we'd try the elementary books.

She understands math concepts almost immediately and can do math in her head that I have trouble doing. So after she does a problem or two, she wants to be done. She absolutely hates being given a page or two of worksheets and being sent into another room to go work on it. She generally hates "fill in the blank" kind of stuff, which is why MCT works well for her. Thanks for all the suggestions; I order Beast Academy and Life of Fred Apples yesterday. (Curious what we think of Fred elementary, as the reviews seem to be really mixed.) Also requested the Math for Smarty Pants from the library.